Hello everyone, and welcome back to Wrong Every Time. Today I have got some real seedy, stinky trash for you all, as I rummage through the refuge of grindhouse cinema American and global alike, and also review a film that validates every meme that’s been made about it. Fortunately, all of the non-memefied films we watched were actually quite enjoyable, while my continuing rush through missed anime films introduced me to an instant classic I’m sure to watch again. We’ll get to that eventually, but for now let’s surrender to the joys of exploitation theater, as we charge through one more Week in Review!
Category Archives: Week in Review
Summer 2022 – Week 11 in Review
Hey folks, and welcome on back to Wrong Every Time. Today I’ve got an unusually on-brand collection of films for you all, as my house powered through both a recent anime romance and Satoshi Kon’s final masterpiece. It’s frankly kind of ridiculous that I hadn’t seen either of these films yet; it’s not actually that hard to keep up on distinguished anime film releases, and I’ve only got like a dozen or so left to check out, so I should probably go ahead and polish off that portion of the medium. Regardless, I had an excellent time with both Josee and Paprika, and have supplemented them with a couple intriguing live action additions for spice. Let’s explore the final work by one of anime’s greatest masters, as we charge through the latest Week in Review!
Summer 2022 – Week 10 in Review
Hello folks, and welcome on back to Wrong Every Time. Today I am in recovery mode, having just spent four and a half hours leading my players through their first major dungeon crawl. Well, actually a castle crawl in this case, but regardless, it took me like fifteen hours to build that whole thing, and my party crushed it in one session. A winding stretch of countryside and full castle infiltration, five separate encounters each with their own unique mechanical dynamics, half a dozen fleshed-out NPC characters… my players are content-hungry beasts, and I don’t know how I’m possibly going to stay ahead of them. Plotting out adventures for those monsters basically consumed all my usual film screening time, but I’ve fortunately still sitting on about fifteen pages of film review buffer, so don’t you worry about any disruptions in the Week in Review pipeline. I’m sure attempting to juggle all this will catch up with me soon enough, but for now let’s not think of such things, and instead wander our way through some fresh cinematic selections. Onward!
Summer 2022 – Week 9 in Review
Hello everyone, and welcome back to Wrong Every Time. Alas, we have reached that point in the summer season where it still being “summer” feels like a cruel joke, as leaves fall and the winter chill returns. Every year, I run a version of that me sowing/me reaping tweet regarding the summer season, delighting in the fact that “it’s still the spring season! There’s so much summer left!” through June, and raging at the reality of “it’s already fall! This summer season is a lie!” in September. Fortunately, I’ve got plenty of films here to keep my mind off things, which this week included Jordan Peele’s outstanding new feature. Peele’s films always impress me, but I think Nope might actually be my favorite of his films, and I’m eager to tell you why. Let’s get to it!
Summer 2022 – Week 8 in Review
Hello everyone, and welcome back to Wrong Every Time. Though this article title claims there’s somehow still a third of the summer season to go, it certainly doesn’t feel like summer’s still in full, or even partial swing. Overcast skies and underwhelming temperatures seem determined to get a head start on seasonal affective disorder, but I’m rallying the best I can with a healthy diet of media properties. My housemate has continued his marathon of Naruto without pause, bringing us all the way to the end of the Pain arc, which is basically where I stopped reading the manga as a kid. This process has only reaffirmed that Naruto’s writing is kinda terrible, but it’s also introduced me to the remarkable talents of animator/director Toshiyuki Tsuru, so on balance I can’t really complain. And of course, there was also a fine array of film viewings, with the usual servings of horror and suspense complimented by some martial arts and musical selections. Let’s see what the week had to offer!
Zoku Owarimonogatari – Episode 4
Hello folks, and welcome back to Wrong Every Time. Today I figured we’d check back in on Araragi’s progress in Zoku Owarimonogatari, wherein he most recently stumbled across an unexpectedly human Kiss-Shot. Aside from that, Zoku’s last episode was mostly consumed by Yotsugi wandering around and repeatedly mocking Araragi, i.e. your classic mid-arc Monogatari nonsense. Also, Nadeko did the Misato Big Gulp, so that was also some essential content right there.
As far as Zoku’s themes are concerned, the most impactful sequence of the episode was undoubtedly Sodachi’s reflection on the nature of mirrors. As she pointed out, mirrors are not perfectly reflective: they only reflect around eighty percent of the light they take in, meaning some portion of what they reflect is always lost in the balance. Beyond their literal meaning, her words can be interpreted in two ways that are both relevant to this story. First, in a “fantasy mechanics” sense, it is likely that this loss of essence is the reason all of mirror-world’s characters seem so diminished, only expressing one partial aspect of the original people they represent. And secondly, in a more philosophy-of-Monogatari sense, her words speak to the impossibility of fully knowing ourselves, as our impressions of our own identities will always be blurred and incomplete.
Nisio Isin is wise enough to understand that the clarion call of Monogatari – “you must come to know and love yourself, for only then can you truly connect with others” – is more of a hope or prayer than a truly achievable goal. It is what is most difficult and also what is most essential; in a world of chaos and disappointment, self-love is the only route to harmony or contentment. This path towards accepting the self has taken many forms over Monogatari’s various adventures, and in Zoku, this directive is further complicated through the admission that our “selves” are also variable, and impossible to draw fully into focus. But all that’s basically why I love Monogatari; it’s smart enough to understand that true self-actualization is likely impossible, yet optimistic enough to still hope for happiness for all its muddled-up heroes. Let’s get back to the action!
Summer 2022 – Week 7 in Review
Hello everyone, and welcome back to Wrong Every Time. This week I’ve got an unusually timely selection of films for you all, having checked out some of the latest streaming releases alongside the usual grab bag of older films. I’ve also been slowly preparing myself to actually watch some currently-airing anime next season; stepping back from the grind has been lovely, but I imagine that Mob Psycho and Chainsaw Man will be appointment viewing, with Do It Yourself also looking to be a potentially impressive production. I’m not super excited by the Jujutsu Kaisen-style visual sheen of Chainsaw Man’s trailers, but even a Chainsaw Man that’s been homogenized into anime’s current “action prestige aesthetic” should still be a fun time. In the meanwhile, my housemate’s been powering through Naruto at a truly alarming pace, which hasn’t exactly been the revelatory experience of One Piece, but has at least introduced me to terrific highlights like the 3rd Hokage’s big fight, or Sakura’s faceoff with the Akatsuki. It’s feeling easier all the time to appreciate the distinctive strengths of specific animators, which is in turn helping me embrace a more holistic approach to anime analysis. But let’s set aside the sakuga grind for a moment, and explore a fresh selection of films. It’s time for the goddamn Week in Review!
Summer 2022 – Week 4 in Review
Hello folks, and welcome back to Wrong Every Time. This week I’ve got an offering of surprisingly timely features for you all, as we actually watched a couple new releases alongside the usual temporal grab bag of selections. I still haven’t checked out Nope, but the film’s universal acclaim is really testing my plague-era aversion to theaters; I compromised for The Northman, and I might just have to compromise for Peele as well. Along with that, I’ve got a wildly impressive action film, a scattering of the usual horror fare, and also a political thriller that prompted some feisty/fatigued reflections on our terrifying political climate. It’s a very strange thing, watching films from back when people had faith in our political institutions, and those institutions were kept in check by a free and respected press. But we can save those reflections for later – let’s start off with something spooky and satisfying, as we burn down the latest Week in Review!
Summer 2022 – Week 3 in Review
Hello folks, and welcome back to Wrong Every Time. You all bearing this absurd heatwave okay? I’m currently spending my time migrating between a pair of temperature-controlled rooms, treating every sojourn into the outer world as something akin to a moonwalk through a deeply hostile alien landscape. Which, to be honest, is a regimen I’ve already become familiar with due to COVID – so I guess, just, this is what the future is from now on? We’ve surrendered the outer world to unmitigated climate change and pandemic waves, and just sort of have to accept this as the new normal. Delightful! But even if humanity cannot unite in solidarity to save itself, we can at least come together to rant about some movies. Let’s get right on with that then, as we charge through the latest Week in Review!
Summer 2022 – Week 2 in Review
Hello everyone, and welcome back to Wrong Every Time. I’ve still got a healthy buffer of film reviews to share with you all, but my house has also burned through a fair number of TV productions lately, so I figured it was about time for a recent series roundup. No, it’s not anime, you cheeky scamps – we’ve mostly been watching American cartoons and recent streaming additions, as we continue to chip away at the post-Flapjack dynasty of modern animation. Churning through top quality western animation has become another house tradition at this point – two years ago we burned through Avatar, Adventure Time, and Steven Universe, and had a great time with all of them. Last year was basically consumed by our One Piece watch, but this year we’re back in force, having knocked out Regular Show and Gravity Falls in the last few months. Let’s break ‘em down!